Trainee Charter

This Charter outlines what trainees expect from every training unit in the UK, across key domains. We hope that training units will strive to achieve these aims and that the Charter will be a hallmark of high quality local training. References from the GMC and Gold Guide have been given.
Trainee Charter | RCPCH

1. Educational supervision

  • Trainees expect to have a trained Educational Supervisor, who has adequate time in their job plan to provide such supervision.(R2.15) (S4.1, S4.2, R4.2)1
  • Trainees expect to get meaningful feedback on their performance, delivered in an appropriate manner.(R1.8, R3.13)
  • Trainees expect to have access to free, high quality and personalised career guidance, either locally or by signposting them to resources at a regional level. (2.48ix)2

2. Teaching

  • Trainees expect to be released to attend relevant local and regional teaching, leaving staffing at weekend levels to cover the clinical work where necessary. Attendance at teaching must be audited and an effective plan for resolution or mitigation must be in place if poor attendance is common or recurring.(R1.16)
  • Trainees expect high quality, relevant and varied teaching locally and that this should be bleep-free for all trainees (except in the case of emergencies). (R1.16)

3. Rotas

  • Trainees expect to be provided with their rota at least six weeks before they start their job and that the rota is always provided six weeks into the future.3 4
  • Trainees expect to be facilitated in taking annual leave and study leave provided six weeks’ notice has been given and adequate cover is available.(R3.12)
  • Trainees expect to be supported to undertake accurate exception reporting or hours monitoring (if they are on the 2016 or 2002 contract terms and conditions respectively).

4. Fatigue, rest facilities and breaks

  • Trainees expect intelligent rota design to take account for adequate rest and recovery during and between shifts, in line with their contracts and British Medical Association (BMA) recommendations.5
  • Trainees expect education on healthy lifestyle, sleep and risks of fatigue to be a part of their inductions and education programmes.
  • Trainees expect training units to provide appropriate rest facilities for trainees working resident on-call night shifts, in line with BMA fatigue and facilities recommendations, and to facilitate interim measures whilst undertaking changes within the department.
  • Trainees expect that those who are working long, late or night shifts have access to adequate rest facilities following their work if they do not feel safe to travel home. Colleagues should take a duty of care to ensure their co-workers are both safe to work and to travel.
  • Trainees expect a positive culture towards taking contractual rests and breaks during shifts, including night shifts, and should be encouraged to raise non-adherence with their supervisors.
  • Trainees expect to be able to access to hot food and hydration on all shifts that they are expected to work.

5. Less than full time (LTFT) training

  • Trainees expect that LTFT trainees will have the same balance of daytime and out of hours working as full time trainees. (3.85i)
  • Trainees expect to be provided with timetables for educational opportunities in sufficient time to allow LTFT trainees to plan their work pattern to maximise exposure to teaching and training.(R3.10, R5.9)

6. Training environment

  • Trainees expect training units will foster a positive working environment for them to work alongside the multi-professional team. (S1.2)
  • Trainees expect to be listened to, valued and respected. Trainees expect to be taken seriously when reporting incidents of bullying and that any incidents reported will be actioned quickly and appropriately allowing trainees to participate fully in decisions made about them. Trainees expect clear anti-bullying policies to be embedded in hospital life and to be widely and actively promoted to all educational and clinical supervisors.
  • Trainees expect to be given opportunities to reflect in a supported environment and access psychological support as necessary.(R3.2)
  • Trainees expect that when a suitable opportunity to undertake a Supervised Learning Event is identified, that this is facilitated and completed on the electronic Portfolio in a timely fashion.(R5.11)
  • Trainees expect training units to hold and minute regular junior-senior meetings, support regular junior doctor meetings and involve trainees in monitoring and improving educational quality within the department. (R2.6) The training unit will be accountable to deliver on the recommendations made in the junior-senior meetings.
  • Trainees expect to have adequate time within their work schedule to complete Supporting Professional Activity, for example QI (quality improvement), audit, leadership, ePortfolio. If this needs to be complete outside of rostered hours, trainees should be encouraged to exception report. It is recommended that this is a minimum of 8 hours a month for ST1-3 trainees and 16 hours a month for ST4 and higher trainees, pro rata for LTFT trainees. This is in addition to departmental teaching and clinical admin time.

7.Training programmes

  • Trainees expect that training units, in conjunction with the Heads of School and Training Programme Directors, will ensure that they have access to a breadth of different training environments and opportunities across each level of training, which trainees can use to evidence each curriculum domain in RCPCH Progress. (R1.15, S3.1)

First published: March 2019

Last updated: September 2023